Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1021331,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1021331/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 343,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Ndaragwa, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Jeremiah Kioni",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 49,
        "legal_name": "Jeremiah Ngayu Kioni",
        "slug": "jeremiah-kioni"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. Once again, in support of this Report, I want to point out the following. It is important that reports of this nature carry names when they are tabled in Parliament. As we sit here, we ought to know which officers are going to be punished for having misled the country into undertaking exercises that cannot be completed and are not beneficial. That is the only way Parliament will be felt by the Executive or those whom we have the mandate to oversee. Secondly, as we commend the Committee for the work done, it is important to mention that one of the biggest problems that seem to have hit all these dams is that the projects were conceived long before land had been acquired. Acquiring land in this country is certainly not an easy thing. We know that land must be acquired by the National Land Commission (NLC) and it takes time. It is a costly exercise and people have ways of making it difficult to get the land acquired. When it is not done properly and in good time, you create room and channels for money to be misappropriated and taken elsewhere. Thirdly, it appears like the contractors have come up with a new way of fleecing Kenyans. A contract is awarded and you can see that the project is not well thought out. However, you sign the contract and from that point, you start suing the Government because they are either delaying in allowing the contract to start or the contract is being frustrated because of some reasons. There is a contract that was signed in Nyandarua to do with windmills. One of the provisions in the contract was that the Government would pay an amount of money if the project is frustrated because of political reasons. True to it, political reasons were created by everybody else including the contractor. As a country, we were supposed to have paid Kshs4 billion as penalty. So, you conceive a project with a clear intention of stealing money from Kenya and it is even put in the contract document. Other than for the fact that we found some favourable judgement in London, we were going to pay Kshs4 billion. It is good to commend the Government because they challenged that provision in the contract. So, we must be careful with the contractors that we are having. In my constituency, and in other five counties in the country, I am told the Kenya Power and Lighting Company contracted a similar contractor who did some shoddy job in maximisation of electricity and he has taken off in the five counties across the country. You can imagine the kind of embarrassment that he is causing leaders in those areas and the KPC itself. This is a similar behaviour that we are seeing being done by contractors who are doing the dams. The issue of having done inadequate background checks on the contractors is a problem. When you are dealing with these huge amounts of money, how would you award a billion worth contract to a firm and you have not done proper background checks? These is a thing that we need to pay attention to. As I conclude, we have to be very careful on the promises we make during campaigns. Kenyans need to hear what any incoming Government wants to do for them. However, it is important that we be careful such that we do not make huge promises and we do not have adequate time to prepare for the implementation then prompt Kenyans to start accusing you saying that you lied to them. The pressure that is exerted by the public can also lead officers into making costly blunders of this nature. So we have to be careful with the way we make these promises going The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}